[Tango-L] Women's technique

[Keith]

Sean, Caroline and others,

I think you're all missing the point of practicing Ochos with hands against a wall.
You shouldn't be leaning on the wall and I've never seen it taught that way. The
purpose of the exercise is just  to keep the hands against the wall while doing the turns. 
In that way the body stays facing the wall while the hips rotate, i.e. you twist at the waist.
The problem with beginners practicing Ochos without the wall is that they tend to turn the
complete body, including shoulders. When they do the same with a partner, the result is
disastrous. There's nothing wrong with the exercise, just the way it's taught and used.

Same thing with practicing Giros around a tall stool or column. The idea is not to lean on 
the stool or column, but just to keep the hands touching. Again, the student is forced to 
rotate at the waist and keep the body facing the centre. It's an excellent exercise if used 
properly. 

Once the student has learned to keep her body facing her partner during Ochos and Giros,
the wall, stool and column can be dispensed with and she can concentrate on balance. Don't 
blame the exercises. Either blame the teachers for giving incorrect instruction or blame
yourselves for not paying enough attention to what the teacher wanted you to do - not
unusual in beginner students.

Of course, if you have a partner to practice with - that's best of all.

Keith, HK



 On Sun Jul 15 16:06 , "Trini y Sean (PATangoS)"  sent:

>--- Caroline Weynerowski cweynerowski at sympatico.ca> wrote:
>
>"The only thing practicing ochos with a wall (or barre)
>would improve is the women's
>hang-on-to-the-guy-instead-of-use-her-own-balance
>technique. "
>
>Bingo. that's why I stopped using the wall a long time ago.
>It really did make me start leaning on the guy. Now I do
>giros and ochos on my own, touching nothing.
>
>Caroline Weynerowski
>cweynerowski at sympatico.ca
>---
>
>Thank you Caroline. It's nice to know that someone else
>figured this out. Would you have learned faster if your
>early teachers had told you this right from the start,
>instead of waiting for you to figure it out on your own?
>
>>From the other responses to my plain, common sense comment,
>I am beginning to think that there is some merit to Chris's
>opinion about tango teachers. At least some seem to prefer
>to create perpetual students, rather than competent
>dancers.
>
>I hope we all can see the problem with the wall method, and
>hopefully, the more imaginative people can see that it can
>be solved by having the student do the same exercise
>standing 3 feet away from the wall. Would one of the
>teachers still using it please explain the hidden benefits
>of the wall that outweigh the obvious problems?

>Sean